Shikanoin Heizou is an upcoming 4-star catalyst character in Genshin Impact’s 2.8 Update. He’s a detective for the Tenryou Commission and wields an Anemo Vision. Curiously enough, though he’s not fond of fighting physically, his melee barehanded fighting style makes him the first of his kind in Genshin’s diverse cast of playable characters. One must also wonder what use must a detective have of such a fighting style. Character quirks aside, below are some features of his kit explained.
Shikanoin Heizou’s Skills and Talents in Genshin Impact Patch 2.8
Heizou looks to be a short-range catalyst user with a tendency towards dps capabilities with his Elemental Skill and a short Elemental Burst. His kit is explored in detail below-
Normal Attack: Fudou Style Martial Arts
Heizou performs up to 5 consecutive fisticuffs dealing Anemo damage. His charged attack involves an Anemo empowered sweeping kick and his plunge attack deals Anemo damage to all enemies in the area as he plunges with the power of the wind. His numbers and scaling on his normal attacks don’t seem to suggest anything special and the majority of his dps capability is expected to come from his E or Elemental Skill
Elemental Skill: Heartstopper Strike
Tapping the elemental skill yields a strong Anemo-powered punch that most likely has a knockback effect- on smaller enemies at least. Holding his elemental skill causes Heizou to charge his skill and obtain the Declension Effect which stacks up to 4 times- with each stack increasing the power of the next Heartstopper strike. With all 4 stacks, the Conviction Effect comes into play which deals not only the maximum damage from this skill but also increases the Area of Effect of this skill to affect and damage multiple enemies. The damage multipliers of this skill look like one of the highest in the game for elemental skills- especially among the 4-stars where it’s predicted to outshine even Beidou’s Perfect Counter.
Elemental Burst: Windmuster Kick
In his elemental burst, Heizou leaps into the air and uses the ‘Fudou Style Vacuum Slugger’ to kick an opponent which explodes upon hit and creates an Arresting Windtunnel which pulls in nearby enemies and objects and deals AoE Anemo damage. If the enemies are affected by one of the four main elements- Pyro, Hydro, Cryo or Electro before or during Windmuster Kick then they are also afflicted with the Windmuster Iris effect which also explodes a moment after the first Anemo explosion, dealing elemental damage of the corresponding swirled element within the Arresting Windtunnel. Though, players must be careful as the Windmuster Iris only applies to a maximum of 4 enemies at once and each enemy is afflicted by the Windmuster Iris of only one element at a time. The damage multipliers for this burst looks average to decent.
Passive Talent 1: Pre-Existing Guilt
Having Heizou in your party will decrease the stamina consumption caused by Sprinting by 20%- similar to that of Kaeya or Razor. This talent isn’t stackable.
Passive Talent 2: Paradoxical Practice
Once every 0.1 second Heizou obtains 1 Declension stack every time he triggers a swirl reaction while on the field.
Passive Talent 3: Penetrative Reasoning
After using Heizou’s elemental skill on an opponent, all party members (except Heizou) receive 80 Elemental Mastery for 10 seconds.
We’re still not sure how much of a role Elemental Mastery will have on Heizou’s kit so for now the burst seems a bit underwhelming considering the plethora of great Anemo units in the game. That said his elemental skill looks comparatively strong and his fighting style is exciting and fresh to say the least. His kit suggests him to be a short duration burst dps for now which players will only use to cast his elemental skill, switch to a different element character and then switch back for his elemental burst.